A continuing demand exists for a simple, fully protective, and inexpensive cap and shield which can be used to reduce or eliminate needle sticks to medical personnel. Presently, medical personnel are at risk during the re-capping of a needle during use or prior to disposal. The need to reduce this risk is particularly great at this time due to the increasing threat to medical personnel of the fatal blood born disease, the AIDS or HIV virus. In addition, well known diseases such as hepatitis B or non-A non-B hepatitis continue to be a major source of occupational disease amongst medical personnel. Therefore, the need exists to provide better protection to those exposed to such risks than may be provided by devices currently available.
More specifically, an urgent need exists to produce an inexpensive, easily stored protective device which enables a needle to be recapped with minimal risk to medical personnel.
Many caps, shields, or other protective devices of the character described above which provide the general capabilities desired have heretofore been proposed. Those of which we are aware are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,972,991, issued Feb. 28, 1961 to Burke for DISPOSABLE SYRINGE; 3,021,942 issued Feb. 20, 1962 to Hamilton for NEEDLE PACKAGE; 4,559,042 issued Dec. 7, 1985 to Votel for SAFETY ENCLOSURE FOR DISPOSABLE HYPODERMIC SYRINGE NEEDLE; 4,573,975 issued Mar. 4, 1986 to Frist et al. for PROTECTIVE SHIELD FOR NEEDLE RECEIVER; 4,623,336 issued Nov. 18 1986 to Pedicano et al. for DISPOSABLE SAFETY NEEDLE SHEATH; 4,740,204 issued Apr. 26, 1988 to Masters et al. for SAFETY NEEDLE CAP; 4,767,412 issued Aug. 30, 1988 to Hymanson for FINGER GUARDS; 4,781,697 issued Nov. 1, 1988 to Slaughter for REMOVABLE PROTECTIVE SHIELD FOR NEEDLE SHEATH; and 4,799,927, issued Jan. 24, 1989 to Davis et al. for NEEDLE GUIDE AND PUNCTURE PROTECTOR. More generally, an article entitled "Needle Guard Reduces Needlesticks" by Charles J. Murray in Design News, Oct. 23, 1989 provides background on the basis for concern regarding effective shielding needle sticks. Also, an article entitled "High Prices may hinder widespread use of needles with new safety features" by Mary Wagner in Modern Healthcare, Jun 11, 1990, provides further background regarding safety devices currently available.
For the most part, the documents identified in the preceding paragraphs disclose devices which have one or more of the following shortcomings: (a) they are difficult to package, (b) they are unstable or metastable on flat surfaces, and (c) they are relatively expensive to manufacture.
One of the most common deficiencies of the heretofore available needle shield devices of which we are aware is the lack of packing efficiency, due the the rigid type of structure most commonly found. Even those devices which have attempted to provide some packing efficiency, particularly the Frist et al. protective shield, have resulted in undesirable voids or gaps in the protective shield, thus continuing to pose a danger to medical personnel. Thus, the advantages of the compact, collapsible, continuous (voidless), and easily manufactured design of our novel needle cap and shield are important and self-evident.